Intercepting and reducing valve for compound locomotives.



K. RUSHTON & J. S. KEEN.

INTERCEPTING AND REDUCING VALVE FOR ()OMPOUND LOCOMOTIVES- APPLICATION FILED DEC-6,1935.

1 1 99,6 1 5 Patented Sept; 26, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1- gm 1mm K. RUSHTON &1. S. KEEN. INTERCEPTING AND REDUCING VALVE FOR COMPOUND LOCOMOTIVES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC- 6, 1915- 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- Ivwpni'ars John/ 5. Keen UNITED STATES AT KENNETH RUSHTON AND JOHN S. KEEN, O PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGN- ORS TO THE BALDWIN LOCOMO'IIV E WORKS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA,

A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

INTERCEP'IING- AND REDUCING VALVE FOR COMPOUND LOCOMOTIVES.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept, 26, 1916 Application filed December 6, 1915. 3 Serial No. 65,391.

To all whom it may concern Beit known that we, KENNETH RUsHToN and JoI-IN S. KEEN, citizens of the United States, and residents of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Intercepting and Reducing Valves for Compound Locomotives, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to certain improvements in intercepting and reducing valves for use in connection with compound locomotive engines, whereby the live steam can beused in the high pressure cylinder and in the low pressure cylinder in starting and by the shifting of the valves the steam can be used first in the high pressure cylinder and then in the low pressure cylinder.

The object of our invention is to so design the valve structure that the mechanism will automatically shift from simple to compounding after the locomotive is under way.

In the accompanying drawings: Figurel is a longitudinal sectional view showing our improved intercepting and reducing valve, the parts being in position when the locomotive is working single expansion; and Fig. 2 is a view, similar to Fig. 1, with the parts in the position when the locomotive is working compound.

Referring in the first instance to Fig. 1,

1 is the valve casing which'may be located.

in any position desired, preferably adjacent to the cylinders of the locomotive and is made in a single casting.

2 is the passage leading valve of the locomotive.

3 is the intercepting valve 1 is the intercepting valve.

5 is the piston mounted in the valve chamber 3 and connected to the valve 1 by a rod 5.

The valve is recessed at the back and mounted in this recess is a coiled spring 6, which bears against a cap 7 having a deep flange 8, which extends into the valve chamber 3 and forms a bearing, in the present instance, for the rear end of the intercepting valve 4. The piston 5 is also preferably recessed at the back.

9 is the exhaust passage from the high pressurecylinder which communicates with the valve chamber 3 through ports 10.

from the throttle chamber.

11 is the passage to the stack which communicates with the valve chamber through the ports 12.

18 is a chamber which communicates through a passage 14: with the low pressure cylinder and also communicates through ports 15 with the channel 16 formed back of the head of the intercepting valve 1, when the valve is in position, as in Fig. 1, to allow the cylinders to work single expansion and they communicate with the space between the valve a and the piston 5 when the cylinders are working compound, as in Fig. 2.

17 is a reducing valve so located as to control the passage of the live steam from the live steam chamber 2 to the chamber 13 leading to the low pressure cylinder. In

the present instance, this valve 17 is mounted in a cylindrical shell 1.8 which bridges the passage 13 and has ports 19 which communicate with said passages. The cylindrical shell is open at the end and communicates with the live steam chamber 2.

20 is a rod attached to the cap 20 secured to the casing 1 and mounted between a head 21 on this rod and a plug on the reducing valve 17 is a coiled spring 23, which tends to retain the valve 17 in the position illustrated in Fig. 1, so as to allow the live steam to pass direct to the low pressure cylinder. 7

24 is a'port leading from the low pressure chamber 13 to the back of the reducing valve 17 and the rear portion 22 of this valve is of greater diameterthan the forward portion and is formed in the shape of a piston which works in a chamber 25.

Connected to the forward end of the valve 17 is a rod 26 which is attached to a double piston 27 having the rear head 28 of greater diameter than the forward head 29. This with the cylinder 30 and there is a passage 33 which forms a communication between said cylinder 30 and the valve chamber 3 at the rear of the piston 5.

Referring to Fig. 1, which illustrates the parts in position, when the locomotive is working single expansion, live steam is admitted simultaneously to the high pressure cylinder and to the low pressure cylinder. The intercepting valve is held in the projected position by the spring 6 so as to prevent the exhaust steam from the high pressure cylinder from flowing into the low pressure cylinder, the piston 5 being in such a position as to allow the exhaust steam from the high pressure cylinder to pass directly to the stack through the port 10, chamber 3, port 12 and passage 11. The reducing valve is held in the position in dicated in Fig. 1 by the spring 23, so that the live steam from the chamber 2 will flow freely through the ports 19 into the low pressure chamber 13 and from said chamher to the low pressure cylinder through the passage 14. The pressure against the forward end of the reducing valve is equalized by the pressure against the head 29 of the piston 27. The parts will remain in this position until the pressure in the chamber 13 is sufficient to allow the steam to pass through the passage 2-1: and to act upon the enlarged rear end of the reducing valve 17, and when this pressure is suflicient to overcome the pressure of the spring 23 then the reducing valve will be in to close the ports 19. As soon as the reducing valve moves forward, it will move the head 28 of the piston 27 clear of the passage 32 and live steam is permitted to enter the small cylinder 30, act on head 28 and pass through this cylinder into the passage 33 to the intercepting valve chamber 3 back of the piston 5 and when the pressure is sufficient to overcome the pressure of the spring 6, then the intercepting valve is forced back, the piston first closing the port 12 leading to the stack; then the valve l will open the port 15 so that the exhaust from the high pressure cylinder through the passage 9 and port 10 will flow through the port 15 into the chamber 13 and from said chamber through the passage 14: to the low pressure cylinder and the locomotive will continue working compound until it is stopped, after which the parts will again assume the position illustrated in Fig. 1, so that when the throttle valve is opened live steam will pass simultaneously to the high pressure cylinder and to the low pressure cylinder and the intercepting and reducing valves will automatically shift to compounding. Thus the valves are not under the control of the engineer and, consequently, he cannot waste steam by allowing the locomotive to run under single expansion for an indefinite period.

34 is an emergency pipe leading from the rear end of the cylinder 30 to a valve in the cab of a locomotive so that, when it is necessary to work both cylinders of the locomotive in single expansion, the valve can be opened to allow steam to flow into the cylinder 30 back of the piston 28 and to shift the reducing valve from the position shown in Fig 2 to that shown in Fig. 1.

We claim:

1. The combination in a combined intercepting and reducing valve structure, for compound engines, of a reducing valve consisting of a valve, a spring for holding the valve back to allow live steam to pass to the low pressure cylinder, a rod, a piston connected to the rod and having heads of different diameters, the smaller head being of the same diameter as the reducing valve;

a small cylinder in which the said piston is mounted; a passage leading from the live steam chamber to the cylinder and from the cylinder to the chamber of the intercepting valve; and a passage leading from the low pressure chamber to the back of the reducing valve so that when the valve is moved forward the piston will uncover the passages and will allow live steam to enter the intercepting valve chamber.

2. The combination in an intercepting and reducing valve structure, of a casing having an intercepting valve chamber and a reducing valve chamber therein; an intercepting valve and a reducing valve; a piston for the intercepting valve; a spring located back of said intercepting valve; a small cylinder communicating with the live steam passage and with the space back of the piston of the intercepting valve; a piston in the small cylinder; a rod connecting the piston with the reducing valve; a spring for holding the reducing valve in the open position; a passage leading to the back of the reducing valve from the low pressure chamber; an emergency pipe leading from the back of the small cylinder, the passage of steam to this pipe being controlled by a valve in the cab.

KENNETH RUSHTON. JOHN S. KEEN.

Copies 01 this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Estate, Washington, D. O. 

